So if you know something or hear something please let me know. I’m from the Northern Beaches but willing to commute (as I do already anyway). No previous experience but being 35 I know what I want which is starting from scratch. 10 years of retail experience which would be an assett for working in a shop. I want to learn from experienced mechanics only with an eye for detail, from perfectionists. No interest to work for 99 bikes, Reid or the likes. But this is not supposed to be an application so just let me know if you know of something.
PM scottridesabike.
No, don’t PM scottridesabike.
Does this need to make sense for me?
No.
PM user ollie, he used to own a shop in sydney, might know something…
Ollie knows, but thanks!
Building up for 99 bikes etc might suck, but it’s a start, and helps you get way quicker at doing stuff you probably already do.
Yep plus then at least you can say I have bike shop experience while you wait for another position.
“This is my best attempt to combine helpful advice with a bit of a rant”
Dude, I hate to be harsh but I flicked you details about a job going at MC and you turned your nose up at it.
Seriously if you want a foot in the door to work in the bike industry (it’s not really as sexy as you might think) then you need to just apply for everything ! We had a guy I worked with briefly, extremely experienced mechanic, 15 years full time working on bikes and talented but he decided fixing flat tyres was beneath him and announced he would only do “real mechanics” and not fix flats. He lost his job. Being a mechanic, however much you might like to think otherwise is mainly fixing flat tyres, building and working on ordinary bikes and getting paid shit. There is no room for ego.
I have several good friends who are great mechanics who started at Cell or other places that some might scorn, but honestly wrenching experience is wrenching experience.
And if you can’t find paid work then volunteer, I got my current gig as a maintenance instructor with BikeWise on the back of my years at cycle re cycle. They approached me because it wasnt just that i said i was keen on working with bikes but i actually did it week in week out in a dark car park for no money and precious little thanks.
Also, any shop you start in is going to give you retail or building kids bike practice. So do some Monday/Wednesday eve shifts at cycle recycle or Thursday eve Sunday day shifts with bicycle garden and start getting some wrenching experience so that then you have something to offer in terms of a skill set .
Your starting point should be a willingness to learn from anyone who knows more than you do, then later you can find your dream job and guru.
^ what Ollie said, like any job, there’s no skipping the bottom rungs.
Learn everything, learn it twice, and repeat. Get to a stage where you are financially stable and start your own gig.
What Ollie says x 2.
No matter what shop you work at most of the bikes will be neglected pieces of shit that people don’t wanna spend $0.05c maintaining. Most of the job is tedious and lemme tell you there’s fuck all glamour or enthusiasm after fixing 40+ flats in a day. No matter what good advice or experience you have knobheads are gonna buy $90+ leather bar tape for a bike that has steel rims and cannot be stopped in the rain. No matter how much you remind them that being able to stop a bike is kinda important, said knobhead don’t give 2 fucks as long as it looks good.
Most of the job is like that. People should be spending $'s on having their bikes maintained and replacing worn parts so the work properly yet they just buy trinkets thinking they know better, then slag off all bike shops anyway.
QFT
(See the internetz slang I’m learning around here?)
Seeming you’re from the west coast I’ll pretend the acronym stands for Quokka Fun Time !!!
Fair enough but the only reason I didnt apply was that it would had taken me 2hrs to get to work - one way. I just don’t have the time to commute for 4hrs each day as I do have things beside my work I need to attend to. I’m just not able to sacrifice evrything in my life for a job right now. Need to get out of the door so thanks everyone for your advice.
I didnt turn my nose up to the job going at McCyclery, not at all and I had a hard fight with myself whether to apply or not. But I decided that I just cant go the path to spend 4hrs a day commuting. I just dont have the time, its unfortunately as easy as that. I have commitments that I cant just quit because of a job. And even I really like to do it, thats it at the end of the day, its a job. Not wanting to work for 99 bikes or whatever has nothing to do with my ego whatsoever. My ego is not even existing when it comes to bikes. I just know how they work in the workshop from previous experiences and its just not the way I would like to do it. My intention was and is to learn from someone I can look up to. Not because of more knowledge than I have (cause thats easy to have) but because of the way they work.
Anyway I appreciate your input Ollie and Im sorry if I came along as putting my nose up to the job. If you’d know me personally you’d know that Im not like that, I promise.
Do you still live on the Northern Beaches? Don’t they have a fast/slow ferry + buses? I’ve colleagues that do the same commute and it takes them half an hour to the CBD. Or is it another MC? I’m confused. Or are you riding or walking and I missed that?
Not having a go, but for contrast I commute 2.5hrs everyday from the western suburbs to the CBD. It’s my career so I do it.
Maybe people got their knickers in a knot because of the above. But hey, at the least I take my hat off for starting fresh at 35 a lot of people don’t have the balls for that. At the same time, my LBS has a trainee wrench who looks 16 - he’s getting paid but he’s sweeping floors and working at an awesome shop, learning from awesome wrenchies. Think about that as your competition across all shops, let alone the dux nutz/ex-pro/perfectionist mechanics…
Also LOL @ McCyclery.
There’s the Giant-branded MC in the city, then there’s the actual MC (maroubra cycles) shop in maroubra. I’m guessing the job was at Maroubra…
As an aside, I would’ve thought that riding from the north to maroubra would be well under an hour. Even with ferry ride should only be an hour. I realise that’s still a decent commute to do everyday…
Exactly, this is Sydney, get used to the commute.
I couldn’t hack it, so I moved 3km away from my place of work. That’s why i’m in the western burbs.
If i get a job in town, i’ll be packing up and moving in in a heartbeat.
There is nothing fun about hanging out with obsessive perfectionist mechanics. Trust me on this one.
Yes I do, I live in Narrabeen which is on the northern part of the Northern Beaches. I do the commute to the CBD which takes me an hour door to door one way and which I don’t mind. I’m happy to do so as I’ve mentioned. Getting to Maroubra is a different story so I decided against it.
Thanks for the heads up and yes it took me a while to figure out that I should have a fresh start. I believe I’m ready for it and whatever it may brings. If I dont even start trying I will never know what might have been out there.